Posted by
M*A on Tuesday, March 06, 2007 3:11:18 PM
I listen to talk radio....a lot. While listening to
Laura Ingraham a few days ago I heard mention of a group I was not familiar with.
The Greatest Generations Foundation.
The Greatest Generations Foundation is dedicated to:
Honoring veterans for their timeless and selfless dedication to duty, which has ensured our freedoms that endure today.
Educating generations, young and
old, to the extraordinary history of sacrifice, and the noble
accomplishments of brave men and women as they visit battlegrounds in
the European and Pacific theatres.
Remembering and reflecting on
those who gave for their nation, their full measure of devotion, so
that the lives they gave were not in vain.
Organizing efforts to support
and fund veterans to revisit and remember their battlefield campaigns,
so that the first three items above are respectfully accomplished.
What caught my attention was the Journey One Tours. Many of the veterans of World War II have never seen the beautiful
WW II Memorial in Washington, D.C. These heroes are dying at a rate of 1,000 a day. The Greatest Generations Foundation is providing an opportunity for some of them to travel to Washington and visit the Memorial built in their honor. The foundation is also offering combat veterans the opportunity to revisit the sites of their battlefield campaigns. Not only World War II, but also Korea and Vietnam.
My father passed away in 1999, while the Memorial was still in the planning stages. He never got to see it. Last summer, my husband and I had our first vacation...ever, and we chose to spend it in D.C. Standing at the foot of the Pacific Pavilion....I wished my father could be standing there with me. So he could know, how proud I was of him. I have kept in touch with his best Army buddy, who is now 88 years old. He has told me some of the stories Dad never told. My husband's father also served in the Pacific. We wrote letters to our Dads and left them at the foot of the Pavilion. It was our way of sharing it with them.
It's always a difficult decsion....what charities to give to. I think this is one that I will support. I like to think of a daughter or a son...standing with Dad at that magnificent monument...arm in arm...looking up.
Never forget.
Dad would have taken much better photographs.....and would have told me so!